Android 4.3 will come to the Galaxy S 4 and Galaxy S III in October

The phones will need the update to interact with Samsung's new smartwatch.

Galaxy S III owners: your phone will get a new lease on life sometime next month.

Andrew Cunningham

Among the higher-profile announcements that Samsung made today at IFA (Europe's version of CES) was news that two of the OEM's older handsets, the Galaxy S III and Galaxy S 4, would be receiving an update to Android 4.3 in October. For the record, that's only around three months after the software's introduction. Given the standard pace of Android updates, that's not half bad.

Engadget notes that the update should allow the phones to interact with Samsung's new Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which at the moment can only communicate with the just-announced Galaxy Note III and the 2014 Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet (more on all of those products from Reviews Editor Ron Amadeo soon). One of Android 4.3's chief improvements was native support for the power-sipping Bluetooth 4.0, and as we noted in our Android 4.3 review, this kind of low-power communication seems ideally suited to wearable computing devices like smartwatches and Google Glass.

The Galaxy S 4 shipped with Android 4.2, but the Galaxy S III has never received an official Android 4.2 update despite the existence of what appears to be a near-final build of the software. For Galaxy S III owners, the 4.3 update should bring not just the Galaxy Gear integration but also a handful of backported features from the newer Galaxy S 4.

LOL so Google has terrible track record trying to get manufacturers AND carriers to push out Android updates in a reasonable time frame. Now we get so see what happens when it is in the manufacturers pushing the carriers. It will be in Samsung interest to get as many phones compatible with their watch as quickly as possible. Expect a LOT of refurbish watch units Q1 2014 when people buy them for Christmas and find they don't work with their Sprint/ATT/Verizon S3 or S4 because the 4.3 update still hasn't hit and they find the watch doesn't pair with their phone.....<grabs the popcorn>

This seems to have been a pretty impressive showing from Samsung. I've always wanted a Note 10.1 and the new version looks really good. Or I could hope to just get the current 10.1 for really cheap (if the price comes down to clear the way for the new model).

LOL so Google has terrible track record trying to get manufacturers AND carriers to push out Android updates in a reasonable time frame. Now we get so see what happens when it is in the manufacturers pushing the carriers. It will be in Samsung interest to get as many phones compatible with their watch as quickly as possible. Expect a LOT of refurbish watch units Q1 2014 when people buy them for Christmas and find they don't work with their Sprint/ATT/Verizon S3 or S4 because the 4.3 update still hasn't hit and they find the watch doesn't pair with their phone.....<grabs the popcorn>

Although your post is worded fairly childishly, you have a point. It's sad that Samsung usually takes around 6 months for an update but is cutting that time in half when it will help another one of their products sell better. As an LTE S3 user, I really hope they are able push it through the US carriers quickly as well.

Hahahahaha, Android updates for Samsung phones; yeah, that's a good one! Let me know how that works out for ya.

They've been pretty good lately.

Care to name another OEM that's done better?

As mostly a happy (although frustrated with updates) Samsung user, I cringe as I tell you that your answer is named after a popular fruit.

The android equivalent would be a Nexus phone. The question was specific to OEM's who provide android updates.

I hated Samsung when I owned a vibrant, but have been pretty pleased with my GS3. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything crucial being on 4.1, things like BT4 LE were baked in by Samsung prior to Google supporting it in their stock android release.

Hahahahaha, Android updates for Samsung phones; yeah, that's a good one! Let me know how that works out for ya.

They've been pretty good lately.

Care to name another OEM that's done better?

As mostly a happy (although frustrated with updates) Samsung user, I cringe as I tell you that your answer is named after a popular fruit.

The android equivalent would be a Nexus phone. The question was specific to OEM's who provide android updates.

I hated Samsung when I owned a vibrant, but have been pretty pleased with my GS3. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything crucial being on 4.1, things like BT4 LE were baked in by Samsung prior to Google supporting it in their stock android release.

For me it wasn't so much not getting features, but problematic software. When my GS3 was on 4.1.1 (after initial update, before 4.1.2 update), my phone would occastionally get stuck on LTE and not receive calls or text messages. It seems to be resolved in 4.1.2. The problem was fairly well documented in AT&T's forums even if no one officially admitted it was a problem - http://forums.att.com/t5/Android-Discus ... -p/3270741 .

[edit] The thing I don't like is the battery life. I understand it needs a bit more power than a normal watch, but surely they could have licensed someone's kinetic recharge mechanism if there is no space for a couple of solar cells or something. 24 hours is just too little for a watch and for me, purely psychologically, a device that small should have a battery life at least as good as feature phones of yore, ie. a week or so.

Google Play Services can't come fast enough. The fact that there is a delay in implementation of any point release is still a feature that's strangling Android, preventing it from being the top-tier OS that it should be. It's all well and good if you're on a Nexus or on a favoured device, but I can't tell you how furious I would be if my carrier or manufacturer arbitrarily decided that I couldn't have an update that other, similar devices were getting.

Apple's roll-off of legacy hardware takes a long time. Android needs to play in the same space. Help me, Google Play Services, you're my only hope.

Samsung's strength is adding to existing designs or keeping things the way they are, not coming up with new ones from scratch. I'm not surprised one bit since they didn't have an industry standard to work off of.

On a positive note, good to hear Samsung is already publicly announcing updates. HTC can't even get their facts straight on 4.2.

Really? I think it looks quite nice. It doesn't look overly big in any direction and the only oddity is the camera protruding out of the bracelet.

1. My biggest let down was that Samsung's take did not introduce a revolutionary display, more specifically a flexible display. 2. Interacting with the watch seems like a step backwards. 3. The design is BOLD. Certainly the 4 screws were an intentional nod that says "Hey, I am a watch". To me, there is nothing subtle or beautiful about the Gear.4. Putting a camera in the strap will go down as one of the worst throw-in-everything ideas in human history. 5. What is innovative about the GG? There is absolutely nothing new here - that is a feat.6. "Hey, I am a watch." (Only for 7 hours or so.)

I have been itching for a device that I can silent ringing calls, check text messages, change playlists, while my phone is pocketed. I am not in the camp of those that have closed history on the watch as an accessory, nor have I worn one for 10 years. I have practiced some will power not pulling the trigger on the Pebble but due to the delayed shipping issues and other technical issues with version 1 it wasn't all that hard. I mulled the Sony for a while but it too fell short on merits. So I wait.

The T-Mo will probably be unlocked for ROMs, but I may wait around and see if there is a Google Edition. Hell, I'd pay $50 more on launch day for a phone with less S-crap and a clean slate.(Though it really should be mandated by law like the no bundline IE in Windows)

I will be very interested to see how Samsung's new update increases the lockdown level of the phone. Verizon became notorious as the first carrier to lock the bootloaders of the devices they sell, and AT&T has followed them. Disturbingly, the carriers don't voluntarily tell us when they do this, and some updates permanently alter the hardware and cannot be removed. Some customers, of course, don't care; many of us, however, see them as slowly changing the paradigm from one where us customers buy a phone (and own it) to one in which we only rent it.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.